Psalm 109: ¹ Do not be silent, O God of my praise. ² For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. ³ They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. ⁴ In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for them.⁵ So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. ⁶ They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand on his right. 

The psalmist is crying out to God in response to betrayal and injustice. What gets my attention this morning is in v.6 “… let an accuser stand on his right”. The Hebrew word translated here as “accuser” is “satan”. As in “Satan”, one of the names of the evil one who opposes God. One of the things Satan does to attack the people of God is to accuse them.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in the New Testament he writes:

“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12.

In other words, sometimes it appears that a fellow human being is opposing you, but it is really the forces of darkness acting through a person that is the root cause. It’s not always easy to tell the difference.

But one example is when a person is repeatedly leveling false accusations against another person(s). This can happen quite by accident. Someone is misinformed and, presented with information to rectify the misunderstanding, the issue is resolved. The accusation withdrawn. But sometimes this is not what happens.

Sometimes it may appear as if someone is impervious to clarifying facts . No amount of explanation seems to change the person’s mind and the accusation continues beyond reason. No matter how hard you try it never seems to be enough. Ever had this happen to you? If so, you have probably had an encounter with an accusing spirit of Satan.

The purpose of the Accuser is to maintain the accusation, not to bring resolution. If you’re a leader in some capacity, I can just about guarantee you’ve met the Accuser. What is the point? The point is to undermine the credibility of the leader by maintaining a cloud of suspicion over them, sow doubt related to them, for as long as possible. This is a pernicious strategy of Satan to diminish the effectiveness of the people of God.

Lord protect us from every evil, including the Accuser. Amen.